How police may win with GPS tagging technology

The technology generates data that can be used in a court of law to demonstrate law enforcement’s efforts to safely and legally apprehend a suspect

EfficientGov.com

StarChase recently released a GPS launcher that enables law enforcement agencies to shoot a tracking device onto a suspect’s car to keep tabs on the vehicle. The GPS technology will relay the location of the suspected criminal’s car to a computer system, allowing law enforcement officers to follow the individual electronically rather than engage in dangerous, high-speed chases.

Law enforcement agencies are leveraging new technology to reduce the number of dangerous scenarios for officers, suspected criminals and innocent bystanders. Because around 40 percent of police chases end in crashes or an average of one fatality daily, according to University of South Carolina professor Geoffrey Alpert, solutions to eliminate these life-threatening circumstances are being embraced nationwide.

The StarChase technology focuses on improving the safety of law enforcement activities by enabling potential criminals to be tracked rather than chased down by officers. Alpert told the New York Times a recent study indicated more than 70 percent of offenders apprehended after a car chase said they would have slowed down if they felt they were no longer being pursued.